Children in Gaza 2014-what does the present and the future hold for them?

Op-Ed: Muslims around the world are fasting for the month of Ramadan. It seems at odds to people in the west, non-Muslims, that during this holy month acts of terror such as the beach attack in Tunisia are carried out. But as Muslims refrain from acts of evil what some members of that faith view as 'evil' is presumably up for debate.

It highlights again the huge divide between faiths and citizens of various countries; but what about the people of Gaza still struggling on a daily basis following a deadly invasion by Israel one year ago?

Israel may have chosen to call the bloody war during the summer of 2014 Operation Protective Edge but to many people around the world it was nothing short of mass slaughter on a grand scale.

Ramadan 2015 ends July 18, although the date varies across the world, and it ends with Eid ul-Fit a festival. In 2015 in Gaza that festival will be held among ruined buildings and by a war ravaged people.

In Gaza tunnels were destroyed by Israeli forces who claimed all were used to move weapons and destruction into the country. But vital aid also was shipped into Gaza through the tunnels.

The means to rebuild and restore so many damaged buildings and businesses is not available in Gaza.

The people need urgent supplies and they need the resources to rebuild.

They have lived in a virtual bomb site since the war ended. An uneasy peace has followed.

The people of Gaza still live in what is to all intents and purposes a large open-air concentration camp. One border is the sea but Israel police that border too.

Israel has rebuilt but Gaza is stuck in time.

Russia Today is one of the few publications reporting on the situation in Gaza one year on.

Children traumatised from the war live in fear.

Monday Save The Children tweeted "Save the Children UK ✔ @savechildrenuk A year on from deadly war, children in #Gaza’s hardest-hit areas still show signs of severe emotional distress > http://ow.ly/P8mMi" [the link is to a briefing shown below]

DOWNLOAD THIS BRIEFING (PDF) One year on from the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, this briefing looks at the continuing impact of the conflict on children. Drawing on findings from interviews with more than 700 children and mothers, it focuses on the psychological effects of the conflict on children. This briefing puts forward a number of recommendations, calling for urgent action to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s children. - See more at: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/living-nightmare?utm_campaign=gaza&utm_medium=naturalsocial&utm_source=twooyg072015#sthash.QpRt8vi8.dpuf

It is a document well worth reading as it highlights the day to day trauma of children in the region.

While Israeli kids may have faced some trauma it is nothing compared to how the children of Gaza lived and continue to live.

“Why do Gaza’s children have no rights? Why can no one feel our pain? I want one human to come and live in Gaza just for two hours. I don’t want him to stay for a day, just two hours to feel what we feel,” a 14-year-old boy from Gaza told the group [Save the children] by phone, “Our future is gone.” A 12-year-old girl added that she saw her home being destroyed. “I was crying because we have memories and dreams there, from the day of our birth. I’m afraid they may bomb us. We’re now in my grandfather`s house. My memories, pictures, clothes, toys… everything is gone. I can’t live, I only feel pain,” she added.

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